MEXICO SPECIAL EDITION: Day 7. Big. Bad. Bull.

* Today, the 18th of May, is the last day of the fair. This was the last full day for us. And we had our day lined up for some awesome stuff. Casey and I planned early int he morning what we wanted to do:
1. Go shopping quickly
2. Go to Mass at the Charismatic Parish
3. Go to the Bull Fight
4. Go out on the last night
...and so that is what we did

Once both of us were up and running, ate, dressed, and ready to go, we departed from the house to look for the bus...until we found out buses dont run. So we took a taxi and th eguy was really cool. He was a student there in Aguascalientes and knew some english. Really nice guy. We went to the centre and looked at some shops. Casey wanted some gifts for his family. All I wanted were shoes. We were in the centre next to the government building and the cathedral. Somehow we forgot how we got to the fair, even though we did it every day. So we got directions, and instead of going the way we always go, we went on the other side of the cathedral. And there were a few shops we had never seen. We found this one leather shop that had all types of stuff. Casey found this really nice leather purse for 100 pesos. He also found a leather glass case for his father for 30 pesos. Just dont tell them that he got them so cheap. I got 2 leather cases for my magic coins for 35 pesos for both. We made that guys day.

Right after that we headed back to the centre and looked for some shoes. We found one right next to the government building and they had all male shoes lined up on the wall for 150 pesos, which is just under $15 USD. But none of the shoes fit us. We both wear size 12 US, which is 9 Mexico and like 28 Europe. Casey asked if there was another of their shop, and they said 5 blocks down. So we headed over there. We found the place after some searching. Right when we went in the 2 girls in the front wistled to us, cause they thought we were good looking, haha. We just trolled in like we owned the place. They also had shoes lined up against the way for 150 pesos. We both found shoes we wanted but they didnt have our size either. And then when we thought all hope was lost, Casey found way down on the other corner a lot of shoes without cases and without other sizes that were put at 100 pesos. Dang! So we staggered through them and we dound some really nice shinny shoes. Then we dound some white ones. I descided to buy the black ones. Casey only had 150 pesos left, and because this was our lucky day with 100 peso shoes, he told me to help him find some shoes too. We looked though and found one pair underneath a few that were really nice. They were the same brand and look of my shinny shoes except they were grayish/black, a little bigger, and they look like boots when worn like jeans. After we looked through a few more, we checked out to those nice girls who liked us so more.

We tried to rush back to the house. They guy really didnt look interested in taking us. He was going really slow and then got lost and then charged us for the extra time. Usually we payed 27.50 pesos. This guy charged us 38 pesos. I was mad because we got bad really late and he cahrged us for it. We quickly showed, changed, shaved, and left for the church. We went to a really nice Charismatic Parish on the north of town. Although the man who started the parish has never been to Ann Arbor, where the Charismatic renewal started in the late 70s. It was awesome, just like I remembered it from next year.

When we got back, we tried to hurry up and eat and then headed off to the bull fight. We got there a little late but at least we were thrown into the action. There were 3 bull fighters and 6 bulls. So here is how a bull fight went:

• First some hort guy comes out with the name of the bull and the weight in Kilos.
  
• Then the helpers get in the rind and have the bull come out. They shake and bake with him using a large faded sheet to get him tired of running all the place.


• Once it is breathing hard some dudes come in armor on horses that are also protected. The helpers get the bull close to the horse dudes who have lances. The armor dudes stab the bull in the back so that it startes bleeding.


• Then the armor dudes leave and the helpers take turn trying to stab some colourfull stakes in the back of the bulls


• And finally the bull fighter comes out with the large faded sheet to get a feel for the bull. Once he wears him out a bit he gets the iconic small red cape and hids his sword behind it. He rides the bull till the crowd is ready and the judges call the kill. By this time the bull is so tired it will stand still up close to the bull righter. He will only charge the bull fighter when bidded with the red cape. So since the bull is safe, the bull fighter takes out his bent sword from behind the cape, raises it up in the air, and charges the bull. The trick is charging, dodging the horns as the bull charges, penetrating the sword in the neck on its back, and induldging it all the way so that you can only see the handle.


• When the bull fighter has completed this, the helpers come out and make the bull run in cirlces so that the sword slices up the inside of the bull, kinda how the doctors move the blade all around the mother's inside to kill a baby. This part is interesting because the strength is displaced in how long the bull can stand before its legs give out.


• Once the legs fall and the bull is looking around on the ground, the grim reaper dude comes in with his knife in his sheath. He pulls it out and in one quick swipe the bull falls over dead.


• The crowd cheers (Just had to add that in, haha)


• Some short, skinny charro (a mexican cowboy) comes out with 2 big horses on reigns, tie the bull's horns on the chain, and drag the bull away

I could go on and on of the bull fighter but I wont. I will say a few things. The first guy was spanish and he did really good. he got 1 ear the first time and 2 his second. The second was a dude in a pink suit. He tried to show off but was sloppy and that got him hit both times by the bull. He got an ear the first time after he got hit and then had a come back. He couldnt recover the second time and couldnt even kill the bull. The third guy was pretty good. He did his job well but wasnt as smooth as the first. He also got 1 ear.

My favorite part was definately the begining. I loved seeing that bull running full spead and scaring the helper. Top down the best part was the bull fighting the armored guys on the horses. I mean, face it: The bull is going to die. But what I want to see is how much the bull can give before it goes down. And when it fought these horses, dang it was cool too see. I also loved the helpers getting launched by the bull. Heck, anyone who gets launched by that powerful neck was a highlight...and guess what, I got a few! I made a video to demonstate the flow of one bullfight. I hope you enjoy it, because if you never are able to go to a bull fight, at least you know what you are missing out on.

After the fighting was over, which was 8:45, my grandfather took a cab home and Casey and I were open for the fun. We wondered around the fair, like litterly wlaked all the way to the edge, truned around, walked over to the edge, turned around to the other edge, and the last edge and over again. We called Jasmine at her house and we knew she had to study tonight, but she was at the art centre. It was 9:15 and usually the performances start at 7 and are 2 hours long, so we figured she would be home soon so we didnt go looking for her. We kept wondering. We went into one bar, the budda bar, cause we got a free drink coupon. Once we got in we found out it never was valid. So we left.

Then we did a chase for one of the big, plasic beer bottles. And man was it a wild goose chase. This is what we learned: Mexicans give terrible directions. I mean, no wonder they havent fixed their water system, because they cant find all the pipes! I dont know if that was a good analogy...thats why nothing ever gets done in Mexico, or why people never read the directions to knew appliances...we do that too...ok...thats why Mexicans are so slow throughout the day and take siestas all day, cause they get so lost they just sit down and sleep. There. (Gasp of breath). So we were told to go to the big beer bottle blown up thingy. Then to the bar outside next to all the crqzy people. Then to the Sol poster (which one?). Then to the large tv screen. Then to go to the bathrooms. Then back to the bar...which we found out they ran out. But we ran into some people who just bought them and said they were just up ahead. But then we got sent to the bathrooms. And then to the bar. Then to the Sol poster. And finally found the line where they had new bottles and were filling them up for you. We made it though the line to only find out that I needed to buy a ticket at the ticket booth! I do that, and get back in line, fill up my huge plastic bottle, and after searching from 11:50 to 1 am, Casey and I claimed our troughy, a huge plastic bottle of beer that only cost us 30 pesos. We ramaged through the mob and found a place to sit next to the bull fighting ring where we tosted to ourselves, told stories, relaxed, took some pictures with out troughy, and drank some beer (of course, haha).

It was a really nice time. When we finished, we figured we check out the shine club again since tonight there was no cover, and then go by Jasmine's house. We called her and she was downstairs studying and would be up for another hour. We went to shine at the shine club for a bit, and this time there werent nearly as many people, but at least we knew the place and danced to some good song. Casey better know Te Quiro by Nigga by now. That song plays everywhere, and every time I sing along, tell Casey what it means, and help him learn the words. Maybe someday he can sing and dance to this Reggaeton song. We then went over the Jasmine's House to say high, grab something, and wish her luck. Turns out she left the art centre at 11pm...so we coudl have gone looking for her, but whatever. It was 1:15 when we left.

Then it was mad. We couldnt find a taxi. Like litterally couldnt find a taxi. Well, we found many taxis, but no one would take us! They would all drive by empty! It was terrible! And there were crowds of people running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to grab a taxi. So we descided to walk home. And after 20 minutes I asked some random lady if the south of teh third ring was the direction we where headed. She only laughed and and said we havent even reached the third ring yet. Corn. Serious corn. Then we saw a taxi come up and we ran up to it, begged on our knees and cleaned its red, dirty driver door with our kisses. And he let us in! The guy was really cool. He had lived in Houston for one year and really liked the US. His English was enough for Casey to be in the action too. He was really nice. And so we finally got back home...at 2:30.

Our stay at Mexico was over. The fair was over. The night was over. But you know what? We rocked this fair and came out with a blast. It was so cool. Dang!, it was great! Yes, we were sad that we had to leave the next day. We wished we could stay longer. We wished the fair was longer. We wished we could drink more tequila. But what we really wished for was some sleep...

(* This did not happen on our day but had happened in the past there in the arena)